Here is a guesthouse (homestay) we have fond memories of. It’s called Jiuqiong B&B and is located in Shuili Township, Nantou County, which is in central Taiwan

Simple but clean room

Simple but clean room

The guesthouse is a few minutes south of Shuili town by car, a short drive uphill from Highway 21, taking you about a hundred meters above the Chenyoulan River bed. You’ll find yourself amidst a small, intimately-knit tea farming community that cannot be seen from the highway, hidden away behind tree cover. The families have been here multiple generations. The owner, quiet, friendly Chen Ming-cong, decided to build his simple, attractive cottage-style verandah-fronted guest rooms after long putting up eager tea-aficionado visitors in his own home who had come to buy up his tea the moment harvesting began – for which a set date is impossible to guarantee.

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Homestay owner Chen

Homestay owner Chen Ming-cong

Tea tasting

Tea tasting

Light tea

Light tea

Strong tea

Strong tea

Chen gives guests a free edu-taste tour of Taiwan teas, and clearly enjoys the sessions as much as his visitors do. You can buy his processed tea to take home; he grows an Oolong/Assam hybrid developed at the important experimental station at Sun Moon Lake, higher in the hills to the northeast, set up by the Japanese when they ruled Taiwan (1895-1945). As well, be sure to walk the railway-tie stepped trail accessed right beside the homestay, which follows the edge of a narrow side valley, taking you through tea fields to dramatic suspension-bridge views over a small town, betelnut-tree stand, and sculpted terraces topped with neat tea-bush rows.

(Rooms start at NT$2,700; simple breakfast provided.)

Garden and pavilion of homestay

Garden and pavilion of homestay

Suspension bridge close to homestay

Suspension bridge close to homestay

Neighbors

Neighbors

Plum tree blossoms

Plum tree blossoms

Homestay resident

Homestay resident

Jiuqiong B & B (九芎坪民宿)

Add: No. 91-1 Ancun Lane, Shang’an Village, Shuili Township, Nantou County

(南投縣水里鄉上安村安村巷91-1號)

Tel: 0919-838-199 / (049) 282-1198

Website: shuili2007.myweb.hinet.net/subcostata.htm (Chinese)